Microsoft presented several beta versions around the opening of its MIX08 web design and development conference at http://visitmix.com/2008. The conference keynote introduced previews of Internet Explorer 8, version 2 of the Flash competitor Silverlight, and Expression Studio 2. The Office Live Workspace beta had also been expanded shortly before the event.
“I see MIX as the first in a series of launch milestones,” Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie said during the keynote. The series was intended to culminate at the Professional Developers Conference in October.
Internet Explorer general manager Dean Hachamovitch had already promised details of Internet Explorer 8 for MIX08 in December 2007. These were now presented through the first public IE8 beta. Microsoft identifies Activities as a core feature intended to simplify interaction between websites and other web services, such as sending information to social-networking services.
The second major IE8 addition is WebSlices. “With IE8, users can subscribe to arbitrary parts of a website,” Hachamovitch explained. The feature resembles RSS feeds, and Microsoft also compares the two. On the product page, the company positions WebSlices as an easier alternative to RSS for developers.
IE8 Beta 1 also includes integrated developer tools. Further additions are planned before final release, including full Cascading Style Sheets 2.1 support.
Microsoft also launched the beta of the next version of Silverlight, its browser plug-in for rich internet applications. A new zoom function, additional controls, and a .NET class library extend Silverlight 2 compared with its predecessor.
Microsoft also plans to bring Silverlight to Windows Mobile. Alongside the Silverlight 2 beta, the company confirmed Nokia’s announcement that support work had begun for Symbian S60 smartphones, with Symbian S40 devices and Nokia Internet Tablets to follow.
A beta of Expression Studio 2 was also introduced at the MIX08 opening. The suite for designing web and media content adds broad Silverlight support and PHP support in Expression Web. Two days before MIX08 began, Microsoft announced that the Office Live Workspace web-service beta was now available worldwide without restriction.
